CHAPTER 7: PRESIDENTIAL SELECTION PROCESS STUDY GUIDE (G2)
Revised, February 23, 2004, 6 p.m.
(PAGES, not in Gitelson text:
280-286, 290-296, 302-320, *316, 328, 330-332, and 1-3, 9F, 10F, 204, 291F)
Note: the selection process is the same for both major parties and minor parties.
I.
NOMINATION BY POLITICAL PARTIES (p. 311-315)
Step A: The selection of
delegates by each party in each state. There are three different
methods used to select
delegates. State law
will be used.
candidates for national
office was the party caucus
All states now use the primary
election to select at least some candidates for public office.
Primaries to choose convention
delegates began as a reform of the Progressive Movement.
A third method is the State Convention. This method of selecting candidates
was initiated before the Civil War by Andrew Jackson and was adopted by the
major national parties
for the process of selecting convention delegates. The
process of
selecting convention delegates takes place from February through June.
According to state law, some parties may use the majority decision rule,
the plurality
decision rule (winner-take-all) or the proportional
representation (PR)
decision rule to determine how many delegates candidate for
nomination receives.
(PAGES not in Gitelson text: 2, 204, 280-284, 293-295, 303, 304,
311-315.)
Answer the following
questions:
A1. What
are the three methods used to select delegates?
A2. Which
method of delegate selection was used first?
A3. Which
method of delegate selection did Andrew Jackson initiate?
A4. Which
method was a reform of the Progressive Movement?
A5. When
does the selection of delegates take place?
A6. What
determines the method of selection for each state?
I.
NOMINATION BY POLITICAL PARTIES (p. 311-315)
Step
B: The National
Presidential Nominating Convention. There are several
functions of a
Convention. The convention delegates from
each state
and
a vice-
the party’s platform
(a declaration of principles, policies and goals) Conventions also function
to
rally party activists and to
create party solidarity.
Conventions take place during July and September,
and make decisions by
(PAGES not in Gitelson text: 2, 204, 280-284, 293-295, 303, 304,
311-315.)
B7. Who
selects the nominee for vice-president?
B8. What is
a platform?
B9. Who
chooses a party’s nominee?
B10. Name four functions of a Nominating Convention.
B11. When does the
Presidential Nominating Convention take place?
B12. What decision rule is
used by the Convention?
B13. What is the majority
decision rule?
II. SELECTION AMONG PARTY NOMINEES AND INDEPENDENTS
(316-318)
winning slate (or
list) of electors. Voters in each state cast their votes from
among the party
nominees and
independents named on their ballots, but they are actually choosing among slates
(lists)
of candidates to serve
as state electors. The total number of electors is 538. This
includes one elector
for each member of the
U.S. House of Representatives (435), one elector for each
Senator (100),
and 3 electors for
the least populated
state). Simply put, a state receives the same number of electors as it
has members of
Congress. Therefore, the most populated states have most
on an election, but the least
populated states also have more electors and influence on an
election than
they would have if
population alone determined their power. The popular vote takes place in November.
The winning slate
of electors in each state is determined by the plurality
decision rule
(requiring more votes than
(PAGES not in Gitelson text:
9F, 10F, 280-282, 291F, 316-318.)
Answer the following
questions:
C21. When does the popular
vote take place?
C22. Which decision rule is used in the popular vote?
Step
D: The Electoral
Vote in each state capitol and Washington D.C. 270
electors
are needed by one
candidate to win the presidency (538 electors divided by
2+1 = 270, the majority required
to elect the president). All states, except
who gets the most popular
votes (plurality) receives all the electoral
votes (unanimity)
from that state. At times there is the occurrence of a faithless
elector (an
elector who doesn’t vote for the nominee he or she pledged to vote
for). This has happened
in 1968, 1976, 1980, and 2000, but is generally rare. If no
nominee receives 270 or
more electoral votes, then the House of Representatives
chooses the president [step
5].
The winner is determined by
the majority decision rule.
(PAGES not in Gitelson text:
282, 303, 316.)
D23. Where does the
electoral vote take place in each state?
D24. What is the number of a
state's electors equal to (see Step C, above)?
D25. What is the minimum
number of electors a state has (see Step C, above)?
D26. Is a states' population
the only
thing that determines the number of its electors?
D27. Would you expect a
heavily populated state to have more electors than a sparsely populated state?
D28. How many electors are
needed for a nominee to win the presidency?
D29. If a nominee receives
half of the electors, would he become President?
D30. What is a faithless
elector?
D31. Who decides the
presidency if no nominee receives a majority?
D32. What is the unit rule?
D33. When does the electoral
vote take place?
D34. How is a majority
different from a plurality?
II. SELECTION AMONG PARTY NOMINEES AND
INDEPENDENTS (316-318)
Step E: The House of
Representatives votes [IF NECESSARY ]. Only if no candidate
wins 270 or more
electoral votes does this occur. One vote is allocated to each
state (50), and all
of the Representatives from each state can submit only one vote.
Using the majority
decision rule, 26 votes are needed by one
candidate to win
the
presidency.. As a historical note, this step has only been needed
twice
to decide presidential elections (
by
taking crucial votes from the major parties. The House vote takes place in
January. (PAGES not in Gitelson text:
282, 303, 316.)
Answer the following
questions:
E35. How many votes does
each state receive in the House to decide
an election for
President?
E36. How many votes does a
nominee need when the House decides an
election for President?
E37. Who may hold the
balance of power in the House vote for President?
E38. When does
the House of Representatives vote for President?
E39. What decision rule is
used when the House votes for President?
E40. Is the election process
different for major and minor parties?